


Losing

by warsfeil



Category: 07-Ghost
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-04
Updated: 2013-09-04
Packaged: 2017-12-25 13:57:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/953908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warsfeil/pseuds/warsfeil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. After Kasuga loses, Gido makes good on his promise of taking him as a manservant, and has a few ideas on how to break Kasuga into the position. CW for slight dubcon; it's meant to be consensual, but they're very dumb boys and Kasuga is very stubborn, so keep it in mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Losing

Kasuga _hadn't_ thought about what would happen if he lost the race. He hadn't even considered it as a possibility. He'd won every other race he'd been in. He was a champion; he was someone worthy of ruling over F-31. He was strong and fearless and had an amazing track record that had meant he would have been a fine ruler — and then he'd _lost_. He'd nearly died, at that. 

He was grateful. He'd managed to come to that conclusion fairly quickly. He'd been falling, he'd seen his hawkzile get eaten by the same jaws that came dangerously close to snapping down on him, and he'd managed to live despite it all. Thanks entirely to Gido. That was that part that he wasn't so grateful for — he was indebted to a sky pirate, now, the very same sky pirate he'd intended to overthrow and outlaw. The same sky pirate that he'd been raised to see as senseless and rebellious in the most useless ways, a law breaker and a criminal that did nothing but cause more chaos in every community they went to. 

Kasuga scrubbed at his face with his hands, letting out a quiet sigh. He didn't have much of a choice, now. He'd tried to brush off Gido's comment, to say that he'd stay behind on F-31 until he was certain he could beat Gido properly in a fair fight, but Gido had been perfectly serious when he'd said that Kasuga was now going to be his manservant. "At least until you drive me nuts." It was hardly what Kasuga wanted to hear. It was hardly what Kasuga wanted to do, for that matter. How exactly could he be expected to be a manservant? He'd spent his life being waited on by manservants. He hadn't been given everything he'd ever wanted on a silver platter, of course — he wasn't high ranking nobility or royalty, but he came from a family wealthy enough to provide easily, and he had enough political connections to move forward without much difficulty. That much was obvious in the ease with which he'd been stationed on F-31 in the first place. If only it had gone well.

"Oi, Kasuga," Gido called from the hall, rapping sharply on the door. "Hurry up, we take off in a few minutes." 

He really was entirely serious about taking Kasuga with him. Kasuga had tried to use whatever he could as leverage for a reason not to go, but they'd all fallen on deaf ears. Well, not deaf ears — Gido had simply been able to refute every single point. Kasuga didn't need to stick around; he was just a figurehead to begin with, with Gido in charge, so F-31 could continue on the way they always had. Magdalene would take care of it. If the Empire wanted to talk to Kasuga to see how things were going, then the Aegis would head back and make sure everything went smoothly. 

Besides, Gido had said with a smirk that made Kasuga's hands curl into fists, what better way to learn to beat Gido than by being around him all the time? 

Hefting up his bag, Kasuga glanced around his room at all the belongings he was forced to leave behind and grimaced. Weight limits on the Aegis meant he couldn't bring much with him. He understood that, even if it rankled a little bit. He supposed it was for the best. If he was going to be a manservant, he was hardly going to need any of his formal clothing. He didn't trust the sky pirates not to make his life considerably harder than it needed to be out of spite. It's what he would have done if things had turned out differently, after all.

The hall was empty when he stepped out into it. Gido had already moved on, probably to harass his men into leaving before they finished saying their goodbyes to Magdalene's girls. Kasuga headed straight for the Aegis, ignoring the looks that he could feel the residents of F-31 and the sky pirates giving him. They could think what they wanted. He'd still done better than everyone else in the race, save Gido. He'd done better than all of them. Just because he'd lost didn't mean he was defeated, no matter what they thought.

It wasn't until Kasuga stepped onto the ship properly that he realized he wasn't sure where to put his bag. Or himself. He faltered for a second, covering for it smoothly and simply lowering his bag. He'd simply pretend he had been waiting for Gido all along. Manservants were supposed to do that, right? Or... were they supposed to shadow the people they were serving? Kasuga honestly couldn't remember how his own had behaved, which was probably more of a testament to how well they did their job than it was to Kasuga's own powers of observation. At least, he'd rather like to think so.

Gido didn't keep him waiting long. The last few stragglers of the crew made their way onto the ship, laughing and waving to the people of F-31 as they boarded. Their eyes moved to Kasuga and then away from him like he wasn't a disruption at all. Like he was just an interesting piece of cargo, meant to be observed and then ignored until it came time to trade it off into someone else's hands. If only that was how it was going to work!

"You didn't even get lost finding you way up here," Gido said as soon as he was close enough, giving Kasuga that cocky smile and clapping him on the shoulder. The movement had enough force behind it to sting, even if it didn't hurt, and it set Kasuga's teeth on edge. The blond kid was there, too — Frau — looking up at him with that particular frown of his. Kasuga couldn't help but understand why his men had felt so inclined to smack him... but it was hardly something Kasuga was going to do himself, even if Gido hadn't been standing right there.

"Unfortunately not," Kasuga offered in return, turning to face Gido properly and giving him a smile as brittle as his tone. 

Gido just laughed, a careless sound that made Kasuga dislike him that much more. He picked up Kasuga's bag and tossed it at him, putting more power in the toss than he needed to. It impacted solidly with Kasuga's chest, and Kasuga wrapped his arms around it before it could fall, managing to contain the wince he felt. He couldn't afford to show Gido any weakness. "You can find the captain's quarters on your own, right?"

"Of course."

"Then go put your stuff there and wait for me," Gido said, accompanying the words with a hand gesture that could only be described as "shoo". He stepped past Kasuga with that, turning his attention back to Frau and continuing on a discussion about hawkzile breeds. 

Kasuga grit his teeth Truthfully, he had absolutely no idea where Gido's room would be. The Aegis was entirely unlike any of the military ships and even more unlike any of the high-class passenger ships he'd been on, so he had no frame of reference for where things were kept. Gido must have known that, too. It was as much of a challenge as everything else was. Kasuga could already feel himself growing tired of the situation. He hadn't ever been one to be competitive in ways like this. Hawkzile races were one thing; posturing and politics... well, it came naturally to him to some degree, but part of the reason he'd wanted to go to F-31 was to carve out his own society away from Barsburg and their particular brand of backbiting. He didn't have the energy to keep it up constantly, and it was imperative to progress there. He didn't have much of a choice, though, did he? At least he wasn't carrying any of Gido's bags around.

It took him forty-eight minutes to find Gido's room. By the time he got there, he was exhausted. Ships were always absolute mazes inside, and the Aegis was no different. Kasuga had too much pride to ask for help, but he'd doubled back past the same crew members enough times for all of them to know he was lost. They didn't offer any help, though, just laughed quietly to themselves as they went about their own business.

Gido was already there, and it looked like he'd had enough time to get settled in _and_ take a hot shower. Kasuga considered trying to muster the energy to be irritated at that and failed. He'd save it for when Gido actually started talking. For the moment, Kasuga just dropped his back at the wall near the door and looked at Gido, waiting for the inevitable moment of mockery. 

"You kept me waiting awhile," Gido said. There was something different in his smile this time, something Kasuga couldn't quite put his finger on. 

"My apologies," Kasuga offered with absolutely no hint of an apology in his voice. 

"I guess you'll just have to make it up to me, won't you?" Gido strode across the room towards Kasuga. He wasn't any less of a powerful figure even without his coat on, and the room wasn't large to begin with — little more than a loft bed, a desk, a closet and the door. Space was a premium on ships, even for the captain. 

"Oh, I'm certain you'll find a way to ensure that," Kasuga replied. He tried for sharpness in his voice, for anger, for irritation, for anything that might have given him some sort of edge. He couldn't find it. 

"I have a few ideas."

Kasuga looked at Gido expectantly, waiting for him to continue on with whatever tasks he had in mind. Scrubbing the floors with a tooth brush, maybe, or cleaning out the hawkzile pens. Frustratingly, Gido wasn't saying anything, and so Kasuga finally opened his mouth to prompt him, to get him to say something and not leave Kasuga hanging.

Opening his mouth, it seemed, had been the plan all along. Gido was very abruptly pressing Kasuga against the wall, deftly pinning him there by the shoulders as he leaned in to kiss Kasuga hard enough to make Kasuga's head spin. It took a few seconds for Kasuga to even process what was happening. It wasn't something he'd anticipated — it wasn't even remotely in the realm of things he'd considered a possibility. A sky pirate was making out with him. It was something out of one of his mother's romance novels, he was certain.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Kasuga, his brain kicked back into gear and he pushed at Gido. Gido barely moved, snagging Kasuga's wrists in his hands and pinning them to the metal wall. _Then_ he broke the kiss, the motion very obviously meant to be on his terms and not Kasuga's. 

"What are you doing," Kasuga managed, and it wasn't a question, wasn't a statement, wasn't much of anything. He couldn't decide where to stress the words, where to lengthen the vowels, so it came out a confused monotone, dropping off at the end like it was incomplete.

Gido smirked. "Breaking in my new manservant." 

"Manservant," Kasuga repeated, parroting the words back as uselessly as he'd pushed at Gido. The sentence reverberated dully in his head, and he frowned. "Manservant, not _whore_."

"Well, yeah," Gido said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "That'd imply you'd get paid."

Kasuga couldn't think of an immediate retort to that other than incoherent spluttering, so he opted not to reply for a second. Gido laughed, leaning back in until he was almost kissing Kasuga again, but not quite, looming over the blond with a grin, every exhale warm on Kasuga's lips. 

"Or are you going to try to back out of this, too?"

It was a way out. Kasuga could recognize it for that much. Gido was giving him a way out. Kasuga could back out, take the hit to his pride, leave the room, and — and then what? He wasn't going to do that. He wasn't going to leave the room anymore than he was going to leave the ship. That was why he wasn't trying to throw Gido across the room with zaiphon. 

Determination spread through Kasuga, filling the hole that had appeared when his anger had ebbed away. He curled his fingers, twitched his wrists in Gido's grasp and took in a careful breath. 

"And if I don't?"

Gido's response was something that Kasuga had seen coming, for once: he kissed Kasuga again. Kasuga had never had much of a preference as far as the gender of his partners went. Maybe that was why he couldn't quite find it in himself to be more upset about the situation. Gido was certainly experienced, and certainly talented, and it was taking a toll on Kasuga's determination not to simply fall back and accept this as any other sexual encounter. It certainly felt good enough.

It _wasn't_ any other sexual encounter, though. It was Gido. The only man who'd ever beat him; the only man who would have dared order him to be his manservant. Certainly the only person, man or woman, who'd ever thrown him against a wall and kissed him. It was usually Kasuga in charge of these things. When two people used to being in charge were thrown at each other, it seemed it was the weaker one that would break first, and it rankled deep in Kasuga's chest that it was him.

Gido moved down, pressing a nip that was closer to a bite than anything else at Kasuga's jawline and then down at his neck. Kasuga struggled to keep his eyes open, to keep his knees supporting his weight, to keep himself from tugging too much at Gido's grip on his wrists. He almost wished Gido had just kept kissing him. There wasn't nearly as much of a chance of Kasuga making noise that way.

Kasuga's silence lasted until Gido bit down on his collarbone, a quick and hard motion that made Kasuga lurch against Gido even as he tried to jerk away. He let out a surprised gasp, the pain something he should be objecting to a lot more than he was.

"—Ow," he managed, finally, a few seconds too late to be genuine. "Don't — don't do that." Was he breathless? Fuck, that wasn't convincing. That wasn't convincing in the slightest. Absolutely nothing about Kasuga right now was convincing, and he saw himself through the eyes of someone else for a moment: pressed against the wall of a ship that wasn't his by a man he'd underestimated, lips red, marks down his throat, pink across his cheeks. Whore was looking more and more accurate. 

"Too much?" Gido asked, eyes flickering up to meet Kasuga's. Kasuga met them for a second and then had to look away, concentrating on a spot on the opposite wall and swallowing carefully.

"No." It wasn't too much. It hurt, but it wasn't too much. Not after losing; not after being almost eaten. Not while being pressed against a wall with little enough space that Kasuga could feel Gido's erection as clearly as he could feel his own. Would this have happened if things had been different? If Kasuga had won the race, if he'd become the ruler of F-31, would he have bent Gido over the desk in his new office and fucked him until he'd begged for him to stop? 

The thought was appealing, and in that second, Kasuga couldn't blame Gido. Not for winning and not for taking Kasuga afterwards. Not when Kasuga would have done the same thing. Maybe that was just how men like them worked. Everything to the victor.

"Good," Gido murmured, licking a long stripe across Kasuga's collarbone, across the bite mark. It was still sensitive, raised against the rest of Kasuga's skin, but it didn't hurt. The pain had been fleeting. How had it even been something to complain about? 

Gido pulled back, jerking Kasuga against him. Kasuga nearly fell in surprise, wrists still high in the air and body off balance. Gido caught him with an arm around his waist, pulling Kasuga flat against him. Kasuga let out a quiet hiss that he couldn't quite bite back, the motion jarring his dick in a way that wasn't exactly pleasant. Gido seemed to enjoy it, if anything. Sky pirates, honestly. 

"Come on," Gido said, and it was even more of an order than usual, given the way his voice was low and his eyes were dark. He stepped over towards the ladder that led up to the bed, dragging Kasuga with him and finally letting his wrists go when Kasuga was close enough for Gido to simply push him against the ladder, trapping him there just as effectively as he'd trapped him to the wall. 

"I didn't take you for the sort to care about beds," Kasuga said, and if he was a little breathless, well, that was to be expected. He curled his hands around the steel of the ladder, the metal cold underneath his hands. 

Pressing against his back, Gido let his hands drift up Kasuga's sides before curling around him. "Aren't you the sort to need a cushioned surface when I pound you into the mattress?"

Any response Kasuga might have had was swept away when the words sent blood rushing straight to his cock. He shouldn't be so turned on by that. He was the one who was used to screwing other people, and for things to be the other way around, in the hands of someone as crass and degenerate as the leader of the sky pirates — was unbelievably arousing. More than it had any right to be. Arousing enough that it made Kasuga shudder a little and fall silent, concentrating instead on climbing up the narrow ladder. He could feel Gido smirking behind him even without seeing it.

Kasuga made it onto the bed and turned to scoot backwards, keeping his eyes on Gido. There was barely enough room for him to sit upright before he hit the ceiling. He couldn't imagine it was comfortable for Gido, who was even taller than he was, but Gido slid over with a practiced ease, muscles easily allowing him to put a hand on either side of Kasuga's shoulder and look down at him.

For a moment, there was silence. The awkward silence of a standoff, with Kasuga knowing that he hadn't brought any guns to the fight and with Gido knowing he had the advantage. It seemed that Gido was waiting for something, but Kasuga didn't know what — or how much of his pride he'd have to sacrifice to get there. The fact that he was still hard was sacrifice enough, in his eyes. Finally, he lowered himself further down, from his elbows onto the mattress. It seemed to be the right thing to do, because Gido leaned down to kiss him again, just as hard and demanding as it had been the first time. Kasuga felt himself slipping into it and finally let out a quiet noise, reaching up to put his own hands on Gido's shoulders. If this was going to happen, Kasuga wasn't going to try and force himself not to enjoy it.

Gido fisted a hand into Kasuga's hair, maneuvering him exactly the way that Gido wanted. Kasuga followed the tugs, doing his best to lessen the pressure on his scalp, but Gido seemed insistent that Kasuga be a little uncomfortable. It was offset a little when Gido dragged his other hand down to catch at Kasuga's shirt, tugging it up and off. He immediately went back down, teeth pressing against Kasuga's collarbone and then leaning down to bite Kasuga's nipple. Kasuga let out a squeak that he would have regretted under normal circumstances, the sound eliciting a throaty laugh from Gido.

"That's what I thought, princess," Gido murmured, pushing his hand down to the waistband of Kasuga's pants and undoing the belt.

"Shut up," was the only response Kasuga could manage, about as eloquent as anything else. Gido just snickered again, and Kasuga tried very hard not to think about the fact that Gido could get Kasuga's pants off quicker than Kasuga himself could. If that speed held true for everything, then Kasuga was going to be fairly embarrassed soon...

Kasuga was naked in quick order, and it was only then that Gido took the opportunity to lean back and survey him. Kasuga felt like a teenager again. He had about that much experience with people like Gido. Gido seemed to be taking no small amount of pleasure out of making Kasuga so visibly uncomfortable, and even more out of the fact that for all of Kasuga's discomfort, he was still as erect as ever. 

Gido finally leaned back with a smirk, pulling his own shirt off and shifting his pants off with all the liquid grace of a wolf. Kasuga envied that, a little. Given how little room there was on the bed, Kasuga was fairly certain that if he'd tried to take his own clothing off he would have looked about as attractive as a six year old learning how to get dressed. 

"Sit up," Gido said, a brisk order. 

"Didn't you just want me laying down?" Kasuga shot back, getting used to the way things worked with Gido. He didn't want things on even footing, but he didn't want things easy, either. If he had, he wouldn't have wanted Kasuga. He'd have gone for one of the other crew members. And, truthfully, Kasuga appreciated it — it meant that to some degree, Gido respected him and respected the challenge that Kasuga almost presented.

"Now I want you sitting up," Gido replied, grinning a little and leaning in to bite Kasuga's earlobe a little too hard to be anything but painful. Kasuga hissed and hated that he automatically moved into it, telling himself that it was just because moving away would hurt even more. Kasuga sat up with enough of a delay that it couldn't quite be called obedience, the wasted time a small balm against the wound that was rapidly forming on his ego. Had been forming for the past few hours. 

"Good," Gido murmured, and Kasuga was glad that he'd ended the sentence there and hadn't kept going with any other terms of faux-endearment. He wasn't sure he could handle another repetition of "princess" so quickly. Kasuga quickly stopped thinking about the matter when Gido pressed up against him, kissing him again with all the languid urgency of someone who has someone else exactly where he wants. Gido used one hand to press Kasuga closer, palm flat between Kasuga's shoulder blades, and let the other one dive down to stroke Kasuga's cock with enough talent that Kasuga couldn't help but let out a noise too deep to really be called a moan. 

Gido was moving around Kasuga, sliding back behind him and it made Kasuga nervous. Having someone like Gido behind him was something that could never bode terribly well, but it was hard to be much more that mildly suspicious with the way Gido was still stroking him, still dragging his teeth down Kasuga's spine and nipping at every dip.

Then Kasuga understood the positioning. Gido laid down onto the cot, pulling Kasuga down onto him. Spread on his back, naked, with Gido underneath him, Kasuga felt more vulnerable than he thought he ever had before. Somehow, having Gido underneath him like that made it even worse than it would have been if Gido had been on _top_ , because Kasuga knew he'd feel every twitch and jerk that Kasuga would make. _Was_ making, with the way Gido's hand kept moving. Kasuga's hands groped for something to hold onto and found nothing but muscle and bedding. He settled for the sheets, body taut under Gido's hand, jerking against the too-slow pace. It wasn't enough to come from, not nearly, and Kasuga knew it was on purpose. He wanted to tell himself that he wasn't going to beg, but given how his day had been going, he didn't want to break anymore promises.

Gido's other hand was suddenly somewhere it hadn't been a second ago— at least, Kasuga hadn't been aware of it. Carefully spreading Kasuga's ass, and all Kasuga could think was _fuck_ when Gido's cock was suddenly slowly pressing into him. He started to stiffen, the image of how big that cock was imprinted in on his mind, and Gido nipped his neck and shifted the grip he had on Kasuga's cock.

"Relax, princess," Gido said against Kasuga's shoulder. Kasuga let out a noise that was exasperated and aroused and terrified all at once, fingers knotting in the bedsheets hard enough to put holes through the cotton. 

The angle wasn't right for a fast entry, and Gido drew it out even more than that. Perhaps that was good — it _didn't_ hurt, aside from the initial stretching, and while Kasuga was certain he'd be somewhat sore later, he had to admit that Gido knew how to balance things. He was starting to get used to it, to the feeling of being full, of how hot Gido's cock was, of all the sensations, and then Gido started moving again, and Kasuga quickly lost hold of his coherent thoughts. 

"Ah—" Kasuga let out before he could prevent it, turning his head when he'd realized what he'd done and shutting his eyes. If he couldn't see the smirk on Gido's face, then maybe it wouldn't exist. Gido rolled his hips, and even with the positioning, he could thrust in and out without much trouble, and Kasuga couldn't help the way his hips raised and fell to meet Gido, automatic and quick. 

Gido chuckled, tugging Kasuga's hair with a hand until Kasuga hissed and moved his head to relieve the pressure. Gido bit his neck again, possessive and pointed, and Kasuga could feel the marks Gido was leaving high enough that no collar would be able to cover them. They were as embarrassing as the small gasps Kasuga was making, hips moving into Gido's hand— back down onto his cock— searching desperately for a way out of the pleasure. It was too much to think through but not enough to _come_ , and Kasuga wasn't sure he'd ever wanted to come quite as badly as he did right then.

It seemed to take forever, but eventually, Gido picked up the pace. Too far gone to care about embarrassment at this point, Kasuga just moaned, letting one of his hands scrabble up and hold desperately onto Gido's hair. Gido bit the inside of Kasuga's wrist, wrapping his spare arm around Kasuga and dragging him up to better control the rhythm and the angle. It worked. Kasuga rocked back against Gido in pure desperation, his body growing more and more stiff with every passing second. He was _almost_ , if Gido would just— if he could just—

And then he was, and Kasuga screamed something that might have been Gido's name, might have been a plea, might have been a curse. He didn't know. He'd do damage control later. _Later_ , when there wasn't pleasure coursing up through him and blinding out anything else that he might have thought for a few glorious seconds. Gido must have come around the same time, because when Kasuga shuddered, took a breath in and tried to regain his wits, Gido was already laughing quietly into Kasuga's hair. 

The orgasm hadn't been good enough to make Kasuga forget that much of his dignity. He shifted, Gido's cock sliding out of him with a noise that made Kasuga's stomach churn in remembered pleasure and embarrassment, and finally rolled over, off of Gido. Gido made no motions to move, apparently content to simply lay there.

"Satisfied?" Gido asked, and Kasuga knew there was no right answer from the smirk on his face. 

"I will be once I've had a shower," Kasuga replied, and kept his voice as lofty as ever. He could still pretend that none of this had happened; could still posture with the best of him, even if he could feel the remnants of Gido inside of him and even if he couldn't quite convince himself he'd say no if it happened again.

"S'the door over there," Gido offered lazily, gesturing vaguely towards the entirety of the room. Kasuga let out a sigh that was considerably more disgusted than he actually felt, carefully climbing off the bed to head over to the door he was guessing was the shower. It was small, but the water was hot and soothed the cramp that had spawned in Kasuga's leg halfway through orgasm that Kasuga hadn't cared enough about at the time. There was a bench in the shower, and Kasuga sat down on it, grateful for its existence, even if his ass was a little sore.

Kasuga stiffened when Gido walked into the shower, fully anticipating Gido to press him against _that_ wall next. Instead, Gido simply reached up and ran his fingers through Kasuga's hair. Kasuga wasn't quite sure how to react to that. It wasn't an overtly sexual move; wasn't even terribly possessive. Certainly, it didn't hurt. A second later, Kasuga heard the pop of a cap that was too familiar to be anything erotic, and then Gido's hands were in his hair as the man laughed. 

"You use girly shampoo," Gido said, and Kasuga leaned into the touch of rough fingers massaging his scalp. 

"It's designed for my hair," Kasuga responded, knowing full well it was a pointless battle. "Anything else and it'd become hopelessly tangled. We can't all get away with using cheap shampoo with no conditioner." 

Gido laughed again, louder and with genuine amusement. He didn't respond verbally, but kept kneading at Kasuga's scalp, working the shampoo into a lather and then carefully dipping Kasuga's head forward to rinse it out. They were both silent until Gido opened the bottle of conditioner, and then looked at it, mildly perplexed. 

"Like this," Kasuga said, exasperation dripping from his voice and disguising the fatigue that was setting in. It had been a very long day. Kasuga spread the conditioner onto his palm and began to work it through his hair. Predictably, after a few seconds, Gido's hands took over, brushing Kasuga's out of the way, and Kasuga allowed it. His arms were tired, and could do with a rest, after all. The excuse was flimsy even inside his own mind. 

When the conditioner was rinsed out, Gido simply stuck his own head under the spray, scrubbed at his hair for a moment, then pulled back and shook like a dog. 

"You're absolutely impossible," Kasuga said, holding an arm up to shield himself. 

"What, afraid you're going to get wet? In the shower?"

Kasuga gave Gido his best exasperated look, and was rewarded with another one of the man's arrogant laughs. Absolutely impossible. But perhaps not entirely without some good points, Kasuga supposed, as Gido shut the shower off and stepped out of the room. A towel came flying out a second later, nearly hitting Kasuga square in the face. He caught it and wrapped it around his hips, standing back up and wincing. The shower had helped, but not as much as sleep would. 

By the time he made the few steps out into the main room of Gido's quarters, Gido was already sprawled back in the cot. 

"Am I meant to sleep there?"

"Don't see anywhere else, unless you'd like the floor."

Kasuga eyed the bed with no little trepidation. "It's not big enough for two."

Gido laughed. "Maybe not by your standards."

It was as much as losing battle as everything else was with Gido. Kasuga sighed and climbed back up, carefully lowering himself onto the bed. He wasn't going to put his pyjamas on while he was still damp, but he didn't have the energy to stay up long enough to dry off. Gido's blankets deserved to get wet. At least the pirate had the decency to throw the dirtied top sheet off the bed into a messy pile on the floor.

Kasuga turned onto his side, fully intending to stubbornly stay awake until after Gido had fallen asleep— but the heat from the shower still radiated off of Gido's skin, and the bed was comfortable despite being cramped, and Gido wrapped one arm around him and pulled the other up to trail rhythmically through Kasuga's hair. Maybe losing wasn't quite so bad, occasionally. New experiences. All in all, Kasuga wasn't sure he could complain too much — it was only his own pride that was causing problems. If he wanted to be less easily played, then he'd have to learn to adapt, and he never would have under normal circumstances. All the same...

"This isn't," Kasuga started, sleepily, the sentence breaking off into a yawn. "Normally within the job description of a manservant."

"Maybe not yours," Gido responded, and Kasuga could hear the smile again, but didn't care. 

"You'd better pay me well." 

Gido laughed quietly, but whatever response he made was lost as Kasuga drifted off.

**Author's Note:**

> My pet OTP and a fic I was working on way, way too long. Finally done! I headcanon that Kasuga is totally an Oak (he's too pretty to exist), so while it isn't explicitly mentioned, this fic was written with that headcanon in mind. And just in case it comes up -- Gido is warm despite being a ghost because he took a hot shower before screwing Kasuga senseless. If I felt like continuing it, I'm sure Kasuga would notice Gido being cold when he woke up, haha.


End file.
